A drop-in morning in honour of Aidan … he would have laughed at the idea. He would have hated all the attention. But he had loved the library – he’d been so adamant she should take this job in the first place. The library had been his place for so many years. Maybe Mr P was right. And it was some small thing she could do, something she could control, to keep his memory alive – and to prove to him that the library had come to be important to her too. She knew that’s what he wanted. He wanted her to find peace here as well.
There was no time to waste – Mr P wouldn’t let this rest until it had been sorted. There had been that thing in his eyes: determination. He’d almost run out of the library, clutching Beloved to his chest, waving with one hand to her and to Call-Me-Chris Crime Thriller with the other.
She gave Kyle a ring, asked when he would next be in, if he was going to come for his shift later.
‘Yeah, I’ll be there.’
‘Great. Mr P has had some thoughts about what we can do to spice this place up a bit.’
‘The library?’
‘Yes, the library.’
‘Are you sure you’re okay, Aleisha?’ Kyle said.
‘Yeah, I’m okay. Distraction is helpful. This,’ she pointed to the screen, her makeshift flyer, ‘is strangely helpful.’
Kyle nodded. ‘Sounds like Mr P knows what he’s doing. They do say with age comes wisdom … So how many shifts do you have left before you go back to school?’
Aleisha shrugged. ‘Just one more week, so five or six maybe.’
‘God, that’s so soon. We’ll miss you.’
Aleisha shrugged, ‘Yeah, I think I’ve liked it here. Aidan said this would happen. That I’d surprise myself.’
‘What happened to “this is just a shitty summer job”？ You were so reluctant to actually do anything on your first day.’
‘I was. It is just a shitty summer job. But you know, it’s grown on me,’ she said, the small hint of a smile on her lips.
It wasn’t long before Thermos Flask Dev turned up. Aleisha felt a rush of adrenaline. She was grateful when Kyle set the stage for her, opening with, ‘Aleisha’s got a great idea.’
Aleisha felt all the attention in the room turn to her. Her mouth became dry, as if she was preparing to give a speech, and then Atticus came to her mind. Atticus, in the courtroom. He’d shown no signs of weakness.
She took a deep breath, and the words tumbled out. ‘We want to propose,’ the word felt weird, but it was the right approach, Thermos was standing to attention. ‘We want to propose an open morning. We want to get more people in through the door. This place, it’s got friendly family vibes – we should use that. Help people get in the spirit of things, help this library become the centre of the community, y’know? A place to get people meeting, get them talking, opening up, discovering something new …’
‘Look, Aleisha, should you be here? I told you, please take as much time as you need,’ Thermos Flask said.
‘Distraction is good,’ she muttered under her breath, and then more loudly, she continued: ‘Anyway, so the open morning will be free for anyone to come along – they can meet new people, enjoy the peace and quiet, chat with friends. This place has always been a community hub – but it’s been a little quiet lately. Let’s change that.’
Dev slowly nodded, unscrewing the cap of his Thermos flask. ‘So, will people be encouraged to actually join the library too? That is a key thing for us.’
‘Yeah, definitely! Maybe Lucy or Benny could help out and give out flyers or something like that on the day. We want to show people what a great space this is, so they’ll come for the cake, stay for the books – and the new friends.’
‘Great – that’s exactly what we need to be doing. In all honesty, it’s been a stretch keeping this place going for so long. The council are always worrying about budgets, especially when we compare our usage to the Civic Centre.’ Dev took a long sip from his flask. ‘The knitting club was a great idea, but now we’re just down to a couple of regulars – and only Lucy runs it, and she barely has the time. The book club, also not as popular as it used to be. But this … it might work. The library isn’t just about books.’
Kyle and Aleisha glanced at each other, a thread of hope between them.
‘How about we try it out one Wednesday morning? Our quietest time!’
Kyle and Aleisha nodded.
‘Perfect. I love it. This place, it’s about connection. This idea … Aleisha, it really does get that. Love it,’ he said. ‘I think we should trial it – next week, see the turn-out. We can always start it on a smaller scale – once a month, or every other month.’